Necessity and Desperation

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If necessity is the mother of invention, desperation must be the father. This whole quest with IMAGE 10 started in 1992, and that Spring I was one desperate man. I had ordered a car wax product I saw in an infomercial. You may have seen the commercial yourself. It’s the one where the actor lights his hood on fire to demonstrate the protective qualities of his wax. No, I did not light my hood on fire. Unfortunately, I merely used the product on my pride and joy, a 1937 Ford Street Rod.

Like many car enthusiasts, I was always trying some new car care product that claimed to clean and protect better. Vintage street rods, in particular, are more susceptible than most to bugs and other contaminants getting stuck in the finish since they are not very aerodynamic. What I found intriguing on the infomercial was how easily the actor cleaned a severely soiled panel of an RV trailer.

I had just had my car repainted. You may know that repainting a vintage vehicle can be an expensive and time-consuming process. So, I was keenly interested in anything I could use to clean and protect the finish. I was too interested, or perhaps, too anxious. I should have tried the product on a small, unseen panel of my other car, my daily driver. Instead, I applied it to the whole 1937 Ford Street Rod – twice.

I did not notice anything the first day or two. The car looked fine. I did not get back to the garage for two weeks. When I arrived, Bob, the owner of the warehouse where I and many of my street rod club members stored our vehicles, met me at the door with a somber look on his face. He declared “Before you go in, I just want you to know, nobody has touched your car.” I thought he and the guys were just playing a prank and did not get too concerned. However, when I got within about 20 feet, my heart sank. The car looked awful. The shine was completely gone. It looked as if someone had used an emery cloth over the entire surface – painfully dull.

I discussed what I had done and showed what I had used to Lou. He painted cars for most of the club members. Lou pronounced “You’ve burned the points off the paint. This stuff has too strong of an abrasive in it, and the finish is ruined. You basically have two options: give it to me for the better part of the year to repaint it, or try to find another product to put on it to make it look decent.” I was devastated, frustrated and angry at myself for using the product on the entire car. I was even angrier that it was being marketed as this “wonder” product when in fact it was a total fraud.        << read more >>